For all that she had since been congratulated, however elated the city's citizens were for those hangings, it did not change that her father had died young and his murderer had lived a long life of luxury. A truth she had always known. Justice, no, many crimes, both big and small, could not be suitably compensated. Justice had always been an illusion and always would be. Or rather, justice meant something entirely different to how it was now used.

The pursuit of justice had never been about punishing those criminals before a judge, but deterring future crimes. To kill a criminal in the name of justice necessarily meant disagreeing with the very teachings of Christ. A belief that, under no circumstances, could this person repent.

So she had settled on the illusion of the pursuit of justice.

However, she knew, had always known, that justice could only arrive too late—if at all. Justice had never been and would never be an answer to crime. Although it could deter some people, those easily-deterred people were hardly the murderers—and worse—that the people of any civilised place wished to deter.

Yet those matters also made up a sliver of crime. After all, for there to be such a thing as a city, never mind so many of them, there had to be a natural goodness to people the likes of which extended far beyond the reach of Christianity.

These other crimes, then, fell into a category which was still no less repulsive than those most violent crimes, at least to most. Thefts however small wore down the trust people had in each other, and even the loss of a few kreuzer could leave a family hungry. For a city of such a size, vagrants were nothing new, yet that meant most had a certain impression of them—and many anecdotes to support those opinions.

Although one could not know every crime, only every crime reported, she had certainly worked towards keeping an account of reported crimes. Knowledge which she could then use to better inform her decisions on these matters.

At the same time, she did not forget the purpose of justice. That was to say, given that the city functioned with these crimes already, what good would it do to lessen them?

To answer that question, a certain Sir Matteo now sat opposite her.

"Princess Julia, it is a pleasure," he said, his polite tone warm and his expression matched that with a small smile, hands neatly folded on the table.

Whereas she took a sip of tea, steam rising in wisps. For a moment, she seemed to deliberate, her gaze on the cup, then she took another sip before placing down her tea with barely a clink.

"I hope sir's wife may accept my apology in person. Although I know how she wishes to spend the winter in Italy, I have burdened sir with all this work." Her words hinted at a lightness that her voice did not echo, instead even, her smile polite.

Still, he took her words with a chuckle. "My wife could not accept such an apology after all Ma'am has done for us."

"Whether or not she may accept it, of course I must offer it. What relationship exists between me and sir is nothing so compulsive. It is only natural that, to do work beyond that specified by contract, there must be compensation. Sir is certainly not one lacking in money nor would I dishonour him by thinking his time so frivolous as to be bought. What remains, then, is to ensure that my request does not cause sir undue distress."

He listened well with a good expression, only to become distant at the end. With a silent sigh, he pinched his nose, then fixed the position of his glasses. "I would love nothing more than to carry on this little game for longer. However, I shall acquiesce here as I am sure Ma'am's invitation includes such a topic that would benefit from my entire focus and, as she has already conveyed, my time has been rather busy these recent few months."

She listened with a polite smile, then took another sip of tea before she spoke. "I am to understand that, at this time, sir has an approximation of the assets seized."

"An approximation, one which continues to change each day as investigations and trials reach their conclusions," he said, a heaviness to his smile.

For a long moment, she sat in a still silence with her gaze on the middle of the table. "Sir naturally knows how poor harvests should impact a city."

Although not a question, the silence which followed bade him give an answer, so he did. "If there should be a shortage of food, then merchants would charge a higher price knowing it would still be bought. There are even those who would buy grain at a high price to sell later for an even higher price if the situation should become desperate. At the same time, with more money spent on food, most people in a city now cannot buy other goods or do not dare do so in case prices should rise further. This then means that those sellers of cloth and clothes and such face higher prices for food and less income, at which point they either sell off their assets, or begin to charge greater prices. So we see further shortages, further rises in prices, while wages remain unchanged."

"Of course, these changes make it likely we would deal with a mass panic of sorts," she said, a touch quiet, sombre.

He held his breath, her reminder chilling. His wealth had always given him a certain insulation from such disorder. "Indeed."

"Once I came into my majority, I focused on infrastructure. The gradual expansion of roads is certainly what comes to mind first. However, a road is only as useful as what it should join. So I first joined the city to Italy, to the Nelli family, which provided a hearty stream of grain once the late Lord Grosburg passed and the grain tariff lifted.

"Then I joined the city to the nearby towns and villages where I endeavoured to build mills—mills for which I naturally required payment in coin, compelling peasants to grow a greater surplus to sell. So I have gradually increased how much grain the city receives from its surroundings."

She paused there, raising her cup to her lips and, after a sip, she continued.

"Of course, that is not an exhaustive list of my efforts nor is it that I acted solely with this in mind. What purpose those points serve is that I have always had in mind the importance of the supply of food to the city. That, perhaps more than my other efforts, it is the peace provided by a stable supply of food which has most contributed to the city's continued growth under my rule."

The purpose of her enunciating such things did not escape him. "Does Ma'am have reason to believe these routes of supply will be disrupted?" he asked, and he leant forward, his voice softer, polite smile replaced with an expression most serious.

"It need not be said that sir must not speak a word of this outside this room."

He swallowed, then bowed his head in silent agreement.

"King Sigismund should have returned from his eastern engagements by now, which naturally means he shall plan further engagements, either west or south. Regardless of which particular direction he should choose, his first move shall be to limit the export of grain while he fills his granaries."

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Although he followed her reasoning and understood the implication, he could not help but frown, asking, "The city is not reliant on Polish grain, is it? Even if it should upset matters to the east, as Ma'am said, our supply is mostly internal and from the south, though I confess I have little immediate knowledge of this matter beyond that which Ma'am explained."

"Sir is not wrong, nor is he correct," she said with a lightness that did not linger on her lips. "Something important sir touched on earlier without realising is that goods becoming expensive is an issue because the wages do not follow. Or rather, when there are such famines, wages may even fall as there is no demand for some goods and desperate farmers come here in search of any work which may feed them.

"That is, in truth, I would intentionally have the city's prices higher as long as the wages provide suitable compensation. This situation encourages merchants to bring more goods to our city, which prevents prices from becoming absurd. At the same time, if people should have a higher wage, it would encourage those of talent from elsewhere to travel here for work. This prevents wages from becoming absurd. Naturally, sir also understands that a city is itself an excess of people and goods and so the benefit of more goods and labour is clear."

Once more, she surprised him with her habit of bringing together simple matters to build towards something known. However, that something was known did not mean people knew why; it was one thing to recognise something and another thing entirely to understand how it could—or would—be influenced.

There had certainly been poor harvests and such in her years of rulership. Yet, there had not been any great panics.

"The issue is not that we would lose shipments of grain, but that wages will lower," he whispered.

"A little over five years ago, I spoke to sir of my desire to raise five million thalers through bonds. Of course, I already knew back then how unreasonable such a request to be," she said, her hand idly settling on her cup. "That something is unreasonable does not mean it has not been well-reasoned."

Truly, he could have laughed, as if he now spoke to the same person as five years ago. No wonder she had shown such a distaste to guilds and monopolies that would limit goods and work.

His knowledge had naturally been keenly focused on those matters relevant to him, first in banking, then in investments. This foray into a city-bank which, while ostensibly not her possession, still acted in accordance with her wishes for the city—he had learned much and had much more to learn. For all that it had in common with his older work, the fundamental difference was immense.

However, it was not by chance that he had become notable enough to be noticed by her.

"Ma'am certainly did, and that money has funded countless hours of labour, including many of my own," he said, not quite a whisper, yet soft.

"Sir should now understand my truest intentions for this bank. As a road moves goods and armies, this bank shall move money. Idle coin does no good. However, to truly move, it must be spent. Such things as speculation only bring harm. Similarly, the return of investments is not the interest we receive, but in the addition of goods and higher wages.

"Merchants are of the belief that profit may be used for good works to justify their ways. What they wilfully refuse to accept is that their charity falls upon those they have injured. Scorn the beggar and lavish the donation tray."

He shifted in his seat, bringing himself that little closer to her. "Which brings us to this meeting."

"I have greatly upset the peace of the city," she said, her words without regret even as spoken a little softer. "To then sell off the seized assets for the purpose of repaying bonds, it would invite disaster. Not because of the accusations that such action would bring against myself."

She raised her cup, only to pause once it reached her lips with a slight frown. Once she returned it to its saucer, she instead brought her hand to her chin, held it there for a moment, then turned it over as part of a gesture towards her guest.

"The Nelli family did not care for this city. When they charged rent, they did not consider what is fair and instead sought the highest that anyone would pay. Such is natural for a merchant."

Her maid appeared at her side, took away her old cup, and replaced it with a fresh one, wisps of steam rising from it.

"We would sell off these assets only to find them returned to greedy hands." She raised her cup once more, this time took a sip, a sigh following as she lowered her cup. "My people deserve better than that."

A simple sentence, spoken with no great weight, rather a statement of an obvious fact as if speaking of the weather.

However, he felt the weight of those words, bowing his head. "They are truly blessed to have such a wise and benevolent ruler."

"Isn't that what it means to be Christian?" she said lightly, letting out a titter with her hand over her mouth. Then the humour faded with another sigh, her smile hollow.

He shared a humoured smile before his faded too.

"The bank is already experienced with mortgages," she said softly, "so it should be trivial for sir to suitably arrange these matters."

For a moment longer, he waited for her instructions, only to then realise that she had given them, had given them five years ago. "We are to sell the properties to their renters?"

"Precisely. There may be certain exceptions if some of the locations are areas in need of development; however, sir will be made aware of those shortly. Ownership in companies should be purchasable by the managers. Small debts should be forgiven, larger debts tested to see if they are legitimate investments or if they are usury. Goods in warehouses should be turned over in line with any existing contracts and anything remaining donated to the Church."

Words, spoken simply, which carried an immense weight. The Nelli family had never been simple and her treatment of them had invited a vast investment into the city. No, it was not on the same scale as her bonds, yet that rather spoke to the scale of her ambitions than to dismiss the Nelli family.

Or rather, he knew, such grand ambitions could not be built on a single contribution. Even if the Nelli family's assets wouldn't cover the entire debt, it was enough to loosen the pressure. Better still, as merchants, they naturally had profitable investments which could offset interest payments.

However, for what reason had she taken on that debt?

"Their charity falls upon those they have injured…" he mumbled, an unusual show of poor manners which spoke to just how deep in thought he had fallen.

A meeting with her was never simple. Not because she spoke of novel things, nor because she spoke in riddles. No, it was because these meetings happened in place of letters which could have been misunderstood, and she seemed to know precisely what misunderstandings he would have.

Meanwhile, she brought her cup to her lips, a sip of tea all that she drank. To her, a cup of tea could only be drank one sip at a time.

The conversation soon carried on to discuss some finer points of the bank which she had been too busy in recent months to hear. Soon after, he bid his leave, both much work to address and a wife already discontent with his busyness.

Silence remained. Soft, gentle, warm. The crackle of a fire, quiet breaths.

Then she let out a sigh and settled back in her chair. "Gianna, my thanks for your patience."

"What is madam saying now?" her maid whispered, an empty lightness to her voice.

"Long ago, I asked if I should crush the Nelli family for you. That you would wait, I have made much use of them, so it is only right that I should thank you for your patience."

Her maid stood, still, so very still, yet imperceptibly trembling. "Madam speaks as if she did this all for me."

She did not reply right away, a long moment as she adjusted her position in her seat. "Do you feel that justice has been served?"

Her maid opened her mouth slightly, only to clamp it shut, her hands balling up into fists and head lowered, eyes prickling. "I don't know," she whispered.

"The Nelli family had to face retribution for acting against my father and then against me. However, the lengths with which I have gone to strip them of everything, it is for justice. These kinds of people who would turn a blind eye to the suffering of their kin, there can be no mercy. It is an inescapable truth that there will always be people like your father. The answer to such people is not justice, for that can only come afterwards, and it cannot undo the harm already long-done."

She lifted her cup as she finished saying that and slowly tipped out the cold tea, trickle running down the side of the cup before falling onto the saucer.

"Our city shall no longer be plagued by their greedy influence and, in their place, people shall find kindness. Justice, I could not care less for justice. All I wish is for my people to live peaceful lives. To have a place to call home, to have food to eat, to have work to do, and to have a loving family. The Nelli family worked against all of these. I found no joy in ordering their deaths, no satisfaction in seeing my father's murderers brought to justice. However, knowing that many shall live more peaceful lives—that is why I rule."

Silence, loud, everything else drowned out but for a thumping heart.

"Madam, what more can I do for you?"

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